Winners of the sixth annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards, designed to celebrate impact from science through successful research commercialisation within New Zealand’s universities and Crown Research Institutes, were announced at a reception in Auckland last night.
Plant & Food Research won two of the five awards.
The winners are:
Norman F. B. Barry Foundation Breakthrough Innovator Award
• Dr Vlatko Matericě, Hot Lime Labs: Hot Lime’ to increase greenhouse crop yields and help feed the world.
Baldwins Researcher Entrepreneur Award
• Associate Professor Taehyun Rhee, Victoria University of Wellington: Taking New Zealand’s virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology to the world.
MinterEllisonRuddWatts Research & Business Partnership Award
• AUT and the NZ SKA Alliance: Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope (SKA) – NZ is a member of its first ever global mega-science project jointly undertaking research and design behind the world’s largest radio telescope.
PwC Commercial Impact Award
• Plant & Food Research: Amarasate® Extract – 100% plant-based, world-first weight management extract.
BNZ Supreme Award (Judges vote combined with public vote)
• Dr Andrew Kralicek, Plant & Food Research: Harnessing insects’ receptors for commercial sensing
Lead KiwiNet Awards judge Dr Andrew Kelly, Executive Director at BioPacific Partners said the judges were thrilled with the calibre of the 2018 Awards.
Dr Kelly was joined on the judging panel by Helen Robinson (ONZM) the Executive Chair at Organic Initiative, Paul Dyson an entrepreneur and non-executive director, and Veronica Harwood-Stevenson the founder of humble bee and Spindle Fibre Films and a member of the Return on Science Momentum Investment Committee.
